Four Places to Find Your Wedding Dress for Less

Let me guess. You have ransacked magazines, pounded the Internet and hit every bridal shop in town trying to find a less-expensive version of your dream wedding dress. Right?

Well if not. You should.

Did you know that buying your wedding dress online can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars? Seriously. Thousands. I mean, think about it ... what could you do with an extra, oh, let’s say $1500 for your wedding?

Wow, huh?

But where would you start? Should you just pick a website at random and order your wedding dress without ever seeing it? Trying it on? Knowing your exact size?

Uhm. No.

What you should do is find your ideal dress. Try it on. Fall in love with it. Then, go somewhere else to buy it.

I know it sounds mean, but bridal shops prey on inexperienced brides who don’t know their options and prices for the same dress-even from one bridal shop to the next-can vary hundreds of dollars. I know. I did the research on my own dress.


But I’ll save you some time. Here are four websites where you can find your dream dress-for less!

Bride Couture
Vera Wang? Carolina Herrera? Jim Hjelm? Those are some pretty impressive names in the bridal biz and Bride Couture is selling them on their website for 50-75% off the normal retail price. You can make a private appointment at their store in San Diego or order two, three, even four dresses, try them on at your house, then return the ones you don’t choose. You will only pay shipping.

Bride Power
Featuring the same designer names as Bride Couture, Bride Power goes one step further and offers a gown-locator service. For $50, they will search for your exact dress and guarantee it for 40% off the retail price. If they can’t find it, you get your $50 back. You can also sign up for their Gown Notifier service where they will call or email you if your gown arrives (although this option isn’t guaranteed).

Perfect Bridal
Perfect Bridal is the sister company of Brides of California and is an authorized dealer for all of the dresses they sell. In addition to wedding gowns, they sell bridesmaid dresses, mother-of-the-bride dresses and accessories.

Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses
All of the dresses on this site are previously worn and sold directly by the brides who wore them. Many sellers offer a return policy and prices run around 50% off the original price of the dress.

This is also a good way to sell your dress-thereby recouping some of your investment-after your wedding. I know I’m selling mine-and in fact, I think I’ll list it with this site.

With any Internet company, you should do extensive research (in addition to the information I’ve provided you), look them up on the Better Business Bureau and ask for recommendations. I asked for recs from one company I considered using, and although they sent me a list of four or five brides to email, I could tell from the tone of the emails and the unnatural English writing that all of the emails were answered by the same person. I ran-fast. You should, too.

You should also read the fine print and follow-up with the company. You could save hundreds-or thousands-on your dress, but if it doesn’t arrive on time or you choose an unethical company, your dream dress could cause you wedding nightmares.

Four Steps to Choosing the Perfect Wedding Dress

On this day-possibly more than any other day in your life-you want to look perfect. You want the perfect hair. The perfect face. The perfect dress.

I know. I’ve been there.

They say the average bride tries on 20 dresses before making her choice. Me? I tried on 220. At least. Then I went back to square one. Seriously. That first little square picture I had plucked from the very first wedding magazine I read on my very first wedding information-gathering exploration.

But it was a process. A process many of us have to go through in order to get that perfect wedding dress. And so I'll share ...

Here are four tips to help you choose your perfect wedding dress.


1. Know Your Style
As we’ve discussed, knowing your wedding style will go a long way in helping you plan the perfect day. Same goes for your dress. If you are planning an elegant sit-down dinner, followed by a night of dancing and sipping champagne, you’ll be better off with a long, formal dress. On the other hand, if you are planning an afternoon lunch reception to follow your noon-time nuptials, a knee-length dress will better suit your style.

2. Choose Your Look
Do you want to be a sexy bride? An elegant bride? A blushing, youthful bride? Yes, technically you can be all three, but knowing the look you want will help you choose your dress.

I had narrowed my decision to two dresses. A soft-pink glimmering princess dress and an exotic, tight-waist bombshell dress. I couldn't choose and went back and forth between the two for days. Finally, the salesperson asked me a simple question, “Do you want to be sexy or do you want to look innocent?”

Simple enough. The choice was made.


3. Brainstorm Dresses
After your know your wedding day style and bridal look-start brainstorming. Search everywhere for wedding dresses. With the new color infusion wedding dresses are seeing these days, there is no longer a reason for brides to limit themselves to bridal salons. Seriously. Look everywhere. You might not find the dress you want on Craig’s List, but you might get an idea of where to look next.

Pull all of the pictures of the dresses you like and look for similarities. Are you choosing all ball gowns? Do all of the dresses have a hint of color? Are they slim, short or traditional?

4. Try Them On
After you have taken notice of the type of dress you are attracted to-get to the nearest shop and try them on. You may have loved those empire-line dresses but hate how they look on you. Try on several dresses with the same shape before you mark something off of your list. Try on anything the salesperson-or your mom, or your sister or your best friend-brings you. You never know what might change your mind.

Be sure to take a nice pair of heels with you to try on your dress so you can get a full picture of your wedding look.

After you have followed these four steps but before you have made your purchase, go back through steps one and two. Make sure the dress fits with your wedding style and look. This is an important step many brides overlook and although that might be a perfect dress-if it doesn’t go with your overall wedding plans-it isn’t the perfect dress for you.

Have you chosen your wedding dress? How did you do it? How many dresses did you try on before you found The One?

Photos courtesy of Notti Cabirian and Hopemeng

New Wedding Dress Styles

There are many different wedding dress styles out there. I swear every time I go into the bridal shops I see another wedding dress style I didn't know existed.

On the one hand...

You are thinking, "This is great!" It means you have a greater chance at getting a wedding dress or style that few others have. This can be very important to a bride. As women, I am sure we all remember the time spent picking out prom dresses and knowing the only thing that could ruin your night was if you showed up at prom and another girl was wearing the same exact dress. The same goes for your wedding dress. Now I highly doubt anyone would show up at your wedding in a wedding dress, but you still get that same feeling if you know someone that got the same dress, or if you see four other brides in the bridal shop trying on YOUR wedding dress. So rest assured that the wonderful world of wedding dress designers are feverishly working to create new and edgy wedding dress trends every day.

On the other hand...

You may be looking at an even larger pile of wedding dresses. And let me tell you, wedding dress shopping can go from super exciting to a chore when you have tried on your 100th dress.
However, after awhile, a long while, I started realizing what types of wedding dress style looked good on me. When this happens it is a great feeling. Where once you were looking at a pile of 50 wedding dresses, you are now only looking at 25 because you know which type of wedding dress styles don't work for you. So in my case this was great, but now imagine they have come out with even more choices!

Here are a few of the newest wedding dress styles. Check out TheKnot for more!

The Layer Wedding Dress


The Crumb Catcher Wedding Dress


The One-Shoulder Wedding Dress

Relaxed Summertime Wedding

Since we have just reached the halfway point in summer, let's talk about weddings that make the most of this season. You can create the kind of wedding that will be enjoyed and remembered pleasantly by all your guests as a beautiful summer day.

Think of this type of wedding as the best that summer has to offer - multi-blooming flowers, sunlit fabrics for linens and bridesmaids' dresses, and garden-like settings (even indoors) will encourage your guests to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the day.

Your wedding invitations should be focused on a summer theme - not for the heavy winter white and formal embossed printing, but a more summery flowered invitation. This will convey your relaxed summer day.

For your wedding gown think light and airy. Even though other seasons are gaining in popularity, summer remains the biggest season for weddings. There are many different styles and types of summer wedding dresses on the market so I suggest that you find one that is in keeping with your relaxed summer theme. Over 75% of dresses that you'll find are sleeveless and/or strapless, making them perfect for the season. Look for light fabrics such as organdy, linen, chiffon, crepe, georgette, or light-weight silk, so as to not add too much bulk.

Bridesmaids' dresses should be light as well - perhaps tulle or organza or dotted swiss - to bring out the theme of relaxed summer style. Most importantly, don’t try to fight your hair in the summer: straight hair will get straighter and limper, and wavy hair will get wavier and frizzier. Hair swept up by a professional who will design a long-lasting style are one of your best bets; or just allow the bridesmaids to go with their natural styles and don't worry about it. Relax, it's summer!

You can't go wrong decorating your wedding venue with an abundance of flowers. There are so many varieties in season you may have a tough time narrowing your choices down! An airy summer look is achieved with mostly white and light colored flowers such as roses, stephanotis, white phlox, elegant white calla lilies, huge and fragrant casa blanca lilies, hydrangea, and Shasta daisies.

Provide pastel flower vases with a rose or other flower at each place setting as both evocative of summer and as a take-home wedding favor.

To carry out the summer abundance idea, attach your placecards to a pear or a peach - whichever reflects your color scheme best. This again evokes summer and provides a stable holder for the placecard - especially if your reception is outdoors!

A relaxed summer wedding can be elegant and fun - and without all the fuss you find in more formal affairs.

Averting Wardrobe Disasters - The Mothers' Dresses

The mothers of the bride and groom (MOB and MOG) are each expected to wear dresses that blend into the general color scheme of the wedding. Neither dress should clash nor should it stand out as a fashion statement on its own. This isn't either woman's high school reunion where she wants to be the slimmest, youngest-looking woman in the place; it's the bride's day, so she needs to be elegant and lovely without taking the shine away from the bride.

So while the MOB and MOG dresses should be somewhat conservative, they should definitely not be dowdy! Too many of these mother of the bride dresses look like drapes wrapped around a mannequin. What is worse, they cost hundreds of dollars - and like bridesmaids' dresses, may only be worn once.

What to do? If you want your mother and mother-in-law to blend into the entire scheme of the wedding, take them shopping. If they live in the same town, make a day of it. Invite them to a brunch and then visit some of the more upscale stores in your area.

Otherwise just take your mom out and have her search for her dress first. Once she has it, she can snip a bit of the fabric from an inner seam and send it to the groom's mother with a photo print of the dress so she can try and blend her dress to it as well. For your peace of mind, ask her to send you a return photo with the finished dress so you know that it is going to work for the wedding .

Bridal salons do have some dresses that don't make the mothers look like holdovers from "Antiques Roadshow," but you might want to make appointments with the special occasion buyer of your local department store.

You will find styles there that are more youthful, much more becoming and less expensive than your typical mother of the bride dress.

Visit a Filene’s Basement or a David’s Bridal. These stores are huge and are parts of national chains. They also cater to formalwear other than just wedding, so chances are you will be able to find something there. If all else fails, have the dress made in the style and color you want. Hire a professional seamstress and see what she can come up with based on the pattern, material and style you choose for your MOB and MOG dresses.

Above all, make your shopping trip with the mothers a fun and happy time. Listen to their ideas and consider their needs. It may be your day, but they have a vested interest in looking their best for you both.